Re: Uusisuom's influences

Nik Taylor wrote:

>Daniel44 wrote:
>> I think there is a HUGE difference between 'y' and 'u' and indeed between
>> the 'oo' in 'boot' and 'foot'.
>
>Those are very similar sounds.  If someone were to pronounce "foot" with
>the "oo" in "boot", I probably wouldn't even notice it.  It's a
>distinction that's made in few languages.  That would be difficult for
>many non-English-speakers.>
An Indonesian colleague liked to tell this story, about an incident at a
dinner party when he was studying in the States:
Hostess:  Oh Mr. ...., won't you have some more [whatever]?
Indonesian:  Oh no, I am[@] [fu:l]    (That @ crept in to break up an
"impossible" cluster; he was quite proud to have produced a proper [f])
Hostess: No, no, you're not a fool....
(General mystification all around the table.)